ROK, US to launch annual military drill on March 2

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea(ROK)and the United States will launch their joint annual war games from next week despite the strong opposition from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said on Tuesday.

The "Key Resolve" command post exercise will be held from March 2 to March 13, mobilizing about 10,000 ROK's troops and 8, 600 US forces, including 6,750 American soldiers from overseas, according to the CFC.

The "Foal Eagle" field training exercise will be conducted from March 2 to April 24, involving about 200,000 ROK's troops and 3,700 American soldiers, including 3,500 US forces from overseas.

The "Foal Eagle" is a series of combined field maneuver exercise spanning ground, air, naval and special operations.

The ROK and the US have said they are annually-held drills of "defensive" nature to ensure defense readiness of the combined forces, but the DPRK has denounced them as a rehearsal for a northward invasion.

The DPRK offered to suspend the annual war games between Seoul and Washington this year in return for its halt of nuclear tests, a proposal flatly rejected by the two countries.

In February 2014, the two Koreas held the first high-level talks since South Korean President Park Geun-hye took office in early 2013. The senior-level dialogue resulted in the reunion of Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Despite Pyongyang's call for delay or cancellation of the joint war games, Seoul and Washington staged the "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" exercises last year as scheduled.

Angering over the drills, the DPRK fired a number of missiles and artillery shells from Feb 21 to mid-August last year, while threatening a new form of nuclear test.

Pyongyang fired five short-range tactical missiles into east waters earlier this month in what appeared to protest against the scheduled South Korea-US military exercises.

South Korea proposed to hold the second high-level dialogue with the DPRK in January, but Pyongyang has kept mum about it citing various preconditions such as the suspension of the joint military drills between Washington and Seoul.

For the first time participating in the "Key Resolve" exercise will be the USS Fort Worth, a 3,450-ton littoral combat ship equipped with an MH-60R helicopter, vertical take-off unmanned aerial vehicle, 57-milimeter gun and 21 missiles.

The South Korean Navy and the US battleship will carry out various joint exercises, including firing exercise, inter- communication drill and cargo exchange exercises.

The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the US Seventh Fleet, will also join the South Korea-US war games.

"It is important to maintain our high level of proficiency on key tasks while exercising different scenarios," Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the CFC and the US Forces Korea, said in a statement.

"Exercising our multi-national force is an important component of readiness and is fundamental to sustaining and strengthening the Alliance," Scaparrotti said.